History
By 2305, Humanity has spread across most of the solar system in significant numbers. The wars of the Nation Planets occurred a hundred years ago. Jupiter, then Mars, and later the rest of the Outer System colonies broke free of control from the Terran Oversight Council. Even the more recent Alien War, an invasion of robots from deep space, is decades gone.
Other than suppressing pirates, there is apparently no need for serious war anymore. Ship-to-ship duels occur over minor treaty points, and the ownership of isolated outposts frequently enough to provide a break from glittering social functions. But trouble is brewing beneath the idyllic surface.
Reasons for War
The prize dangling before the eyes of all is the "Beyond", or more properly the planets of Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto with their associated moons. While there is ample material for development, an eye to the future, and a desire for quick and easy development rather than installing more capital intensive methods drives the economic side of the war equation. The social side is driven by pride of place and fear of appearing weak. Neither the Jupiter Confederation nor the Inner System Alliance wish to yield, or be seen to yield and thus suggest weakness.
The Nature of the Civilization
Both societies are democratic aristocracies. That is, social mobilitity is limited. If you are born among the Directors (a term descended from Board of Directors) class, then you likely remain there all your life, and so it is with the Employee, and the Unemployable classes as well.
While there is democracy, it is a very complicated structure designed to exclude those without substantial education from understanding its intricacies, and many posts are by appointment. That is, one votes for a High Senator, or a Grand Representative, but then they appoint mayors, and governors who in turn appoint judges and heads of commissions.
This balance of democracy ensures that the system does not get too abusive, while maintaining the power necessary for wise guidance in the right hands is the viewpoint of partisans of this system.
High Senator’s especially find it a nice system since its practically guaranteed that a descendant will take their seat.
The large corporations find it superior as well since they know that if some upstart company were to come along, and do them better, the government would find some excuse to squash the irritant.
When this system first developed, it had benefits. The large corporations were very good at driving down prices, but as they gathered boons to themselves, they began to feel invulnerable, and gradually, they began to believe in a version of the Divine Right of Big Businesses which was to make a large profit, no matter what silliness one engaged in.
With an expansive government aiding them, and occasionally suppressing riots, and with positions on their executive staff always open to the good friends of High Senators, this cushy arrangement slowly crushed its nascent opposition.
And by now, its merely accepted.
However, this is not a cyberpunk world. Those in charge do have a sense of limits. They do understand that pushing things too far could break the system. Or they have, until recently. The latest generation of leaders seems to actually believe their own propaganda.
They believe they are a free-market society, and that if one is on top it is proof of superior virtue and work ethic rather than of luck in being born to the right parents.
In this society, vicarious exhibitions of honor, such as zero-gravity sports, take on a depth of sincerity and importance that another society might find pschyotic. People have literally died for the honor of their sports team, and this is not regarded as insane, or tragic, but gallant in a way. Its not quite approved, but it is accepted.
So, both the Directors and the Employees, and consequently the Unemployable who get their views from above, find national honor to be an important issue. And insults to such honor should be avenged.
The Jupiter System, a treaty-bound conglomeration of nation planets (or moons in this case) contests for supremacy with the Inner System Coalition which largely means Earth, Luna, and Mars who are also bound together by treaties. Venus, possibly the strongest economically due to its biochemical factories, is also isolationist.
Weapons of War
Both sides are keen to fight to avenge insults, and they have at their disposal some of the same weapons they used to beat off an army of robotic machines launched at them across interstellar space. It seems there is an alien force out there with no liking for Humanity. But with the laser cannons, powered by miniature black holes, which can shoot a beam from Mercury to Jupiter and write their name on Jupiter’s moon.
Or at least, that’s the theory. In truth , these weapons cannot do that, otherwise this war would be over very quickly and destructively. The asteroid belt prevents anyone from getting a clear shot on the enemy.
The primary weapon used in this war are the “Tickler Guns” which ‘tickle’ a black hole, and that releases the energy to be converted into a laser beam of system scale range. But planets and asteroids get in the way. The whole solar system is a free-fire range, except for those areas protected by blindspots provided by large masses.
Ticklers are very hard to move because of the black hole mass attached to them. And creating this mass requires enormous amounts of energy to jumpstart the Korizynski Effect. Both limits mean that the best, the only reasonable place to put them is in the orbit of major planets with solar satellites and gigantic power grids reaching up into Low Planetary Orbit to provide the power. And once they are there, they stay there.
Variant: Despite the mass of the black hole, it can be moved by a nuclear rocket. So attaching these things to ships is possible. The only problem is that no one in a position of authority has thought of this. Sadly enough, this does happen. The obvious implications of a technology escape everyone for sometimes decades until one bright guy asks “Hey, why aren’t we…..?”
The problem with this is that 1)It changes the world a lot. 2)The rationale is realistic, but not very believable. It is a case of the truth being stranger than fiction.
The History of the War
The war started with the ISA attacking the Jupiterian Confederation, but it was not a surprise. Both sides thought the other side would be easily conquered. Jupiter System moved its fleets on the Inner System, aided by the gravity well of the Sun. The ISA had moved to go after the Jupiterian’s already.
The battle was joined around the Asteroid Belt. But despite the expectations of the different Admirals, the various fleets did not do so much damage to each other as the battle began at what was extreme long-range for previous ship-to-ship duels. Instead the batteries of Ticklers in the orbits of Earth and Mars on one side, and Jupiter for the other side began the process of destroying the opposing fleets. This forced both fleets to ground themselves in the Asteroid Belt as losses passed what was then considered a very high 5% Killed In Action.
Once there, with troop transports unloading, the course forward seemed obvious.
Advance.
So, even as more troop transports from either side funnelled more troops into the conflagration, using the Belt as a shield from Jupiter or Mars lasers respectively (which only worked part of the time), the troops in powered armour advanced.
But with lasers reaching out to stab them when a clear shot could be found (which was frequent), and the fact that clever people on both sides used material fabricators (or Matfabs or just fabs) to spin out millions of miles of Sticky Wire with which they used to tie the asteroids together, and form webs of defense between the ‘roids.
If a space marine came over the top of an asteroid, and the long range ticklers did not quickly hit him (these ticklers guided by clairvoyants whose perceptions and message transfer were faster-than-light), then he came under fire from the close range proton guns of the enemy troopers, and if still surviving, he hit the Sticky Wire, and was stuck like an insect in a spider’s web.
A tickler would then soon finish him.
The Balance of the War
If nothing changes, the ISA will succeed in breaking the Jupiterian Confederation line in the Belt, and drive the Jupiterians from the Belt.
Fundamentally, the ISA is economically stronger. But the Jupiterians’ have the advantage of Sol’s gravity well, plus, they are closer to the "Beyond". This gives them a defensive position which forces the ISA to attack them.
The Jupiterians are still relatively young, and their economy is weaker. Plus, they have taken the esprit d’ corps of the current philosophers to an even greater extreme than the ISA. So they engage in attacks of astounding recklessness, despite their strength of defense.
This basic miscalculation of bringing their weakness against the strength of the enemy offers the verser a chance to decide the course of the war.
But even at a minimum, a year of bloody fighting, is in the future.
Innovative Tactics
One might think that some other method of advance would be found, but since most of the troops were Unemployables with Employable class officers there was not a great push amongst the Director class for improvements. And the Unemployables and Employables had an ingrained esprit d’ corps that did not allow consideration of other methods than ‘attack’.
In addition, the previous Alien War had led people to think of Tickler’s as excellent offensive weapons. The reality was that when both sides had them, they tilted the battlefield to defense. The defender in a fixed position with prescribed fields of fire has, on this battlefield, a great advantage.
Now, there are solutions to this conundrum, but they require technological advances which this society is not well-suited to develop. They also require putting aside the ‘up and at them’ frontal charge tactics.
One solution is to create mobile asteroids, but this would require engines an order of a magnitude larger than even the ones on the largest ships. Another solution is nuclear grenades–the opposing force is dug in behind an asteroid and its going to require twenty men killed to take out the two of the enemy–well, instead, just launch a ‘nuke grenade’, a micro-missile armed with a multi-megaton warhead.
In order for either society to win, they must change the terms of the war. As it stands, they are two years into the war with bravery being pushed to the limits of human endurance. There are tales of men who’ve lived in their space suits for six months, and their muscles are so atrophied that even lunar gravity would kill them, and the fungus inside the suit has already eaten their feet and most of their legs.
The Price Tag
And casualty counts are beyond simple comprehension. The battle of Ceres saw 100,000 ESA troopers killed, and 20,000 Jupiterian troopers killed when the ESA went for a big push. The Second Battle of Ceres saw the numbers flipped when the Jupiterians tried unsuccessfully to get it back.
Via Sanguinus–45,000 both sides.
Riga Borealis–22,000 ESA, unknown Jupiterian.
Vox R2–63,000 total. Mass desertions from ESA side at the company level.
First and Second Battle of Ceres–as described above.
Another factor in this battle is that most wounds are fatal. You have at most a few seconds to patch on an ‘air holder’ before space itself kills you. And even when you do, often enough ‘space shock’ kills you within a few hours.
However, there have been a few bright moments against the pain, misery, and sudden violence of the Belt War. The Christmas Truce of Year One held for Year Two, and again troops on both sides exchanged gifts including video game downloads.
Pockets of Sanity
Playing video games and looking at movie pictures of Earth are the primary off-duty entertainment of troops. Playing cards is less attractive since with space suits reading the other guy’s face is rather hard, although games of skill such as tossing small rocks half a kilometer to hit a bullseye in the micro-gravity is a popular pastime with dessert chits being the thing most commonly gambled.
Now, there are pockets of ‘normality’ where a person can get out of a spacesuit. There are command center space stations behind the lines which are claustrophobic, machine-packed, dirty, and frequently a touch low on oxygen. But, one is free to move about with your space helmet cracked open.
Also, there are hospital ships on both sides with the Red Cross symbol on them. Contrary to many wars, both sides in this conflict are honorable, and shooting at an enemy hospital ship is automatic spacing sans suit.
These ships are full of disease and packed to the gills, but they have better conditions (except for the plagues) than the Command space stations of the Captain-Major level as described above.
The occasional Director class Inspectorate vessel is also considered ‘protected’ as are the hospital ships, and the conditions aboard are very nice compared to the troops. Of course, it is space, and compared to the fine living back home, an "Inspection Tour" is considered hard duty by other Director class people. After all, one only has a choice of chicken or beef for dinner instead of a menu of thirty different meats with hundreds of different dressings available that one might have on Earth or Jupiter Station. Of course, to people who have to subsist on ‘nutri-pap’, a smear of vitamins, fat, protein, and carbohydrates with a taste best described as "waved near a rotten chicken to absorb odors", the mere sight of an Inspection Ship of their own side unleashes homicidal thoughts.
